Terra Nova: Reformed
by Morganel
Summary: A termination order was sent to Hope Plaza 3 months after the 6th Pilgrimage. All are presumed dead. Until a communication between Lt. Washington and Dr. Wallace is intercepted, and a Dr. Shannon is mentioned as a necessity to proceed in making something to save a significant someone's life. I've rewritten Terra Nova based on an article on how the show 'could' have been better.
1. Pilot

Elisabeth hasn't been inside a properly filtered building besides the hospital for eighteen months. The last time was for an important Health Care Conference. She holds her rebreather loosely in her right hand as she follows behind the uniformed man leading her down a very long hallway. She'd been invited here yesterday evening, in person by another uniformed man with little to say about why she's being asked to a powerful political hub, but the 'important' was stressed quite a bit. The uniformed man stops beside a door and slides a key card through the lock.

"Go right in, Dr. Shannon." He says and she does so with a resigned curiosity. She's in an executive office; she's met with four men, two in suits, one in a lab coat, and one in military garb.

"Dr. Shannon, please, have a seat." One of the men in suits motions with his hand.

"What have I been invited here for?" She asks as she sits, looks each man in the eye.

"I assume you've hear of the Terra Nova Project?"

"It ended three years ago." She says. Lab Coat and Military nod.

"General Anderson, Dr. Remington, Mr. Conalee, and I am Anthony Helms." The Suit at the head of the table introduces. "We know who you are, Dr. Shannon."

"I'm afraid I don't understand." Elisabeth says folding her hands on the table.

"The information we're about to share with you is classified." Helms says, nodding to Remington, the squirrely man hands Elisabeth a Plex.

"Mr. Helms, I don't—"

"Dr. Shannon we've called you here because you are one of the best in your field. You've been requested specifically." She nods at him to continue.

"Communications with the leaders of Terra Nova ceased almost four years ago. Lieutenant Washington the second in command sent a termination order through to Hope Plaza. No reason was given." Helms recounts, Elisabeth nods, glancing down at the Plex.

"I believe you've met Lieutenant Washington before." General Anderson inquires.

"Yes." Elisabeth certifies. "2138, she'd been medically evacuated from Somalia with three gunshot wounds to the abdomen. I was in residence and she was being transferred to my hospital after she'd been stabilized in a hospital in Africa." The Suits and Military look surprised.

"You remember it well." Mr. Conalee states, impressed.

"It was a very long surgery, Mr. Conalee. And to be clear I was her doctor for a short period of time. I doubt she even remembers it." Elisabeth says, tone implying she'd like them to move on.

"Scientists at Hope Plaza intercepted communications on two very separate occasions, once between the Lieutenant and two of her soldiers, and the second between the Lieutenant—whom until now had been assumed dead—and a Doctor Wallace." Elisabeth's eyes widen at the familiarity of the name.

"You have history with Doctor Wallace." It isn't a question. She nods.

"We went to university together, yes." She says.

"There are possible hostile forces in the area known as Terra Nova. It hasn't been determined whether or not the forces are human or not. But from the communications we've intercepted, we believe they are trying to make a vaccine of some sort." Mr. Helms continues; Elisabeth's interest spikes.

"What do I have to do with this?" She asks.

"You were mentioned, Dr. Shannon." Says Dr. Remington. "Dr. Wallace stated that you were needed to make the vaccine. That you were, and I quote, 'more than qualified'."

"What are you saying?" Elisabeth frowns, the last thing she'd heard about Terra Nova was on the news when the Seventh Pilgrimage has been cancelled.

"We understand your husband is serving at Golad Prison." Mr. Conalee states.

"Yes." Elisabeth says curtly.

"For the death of a Kurtis Gravsel." He continues. Elisabeth starts to correct him but his raises his hand in a pacifying manner.

"We also understand your frustration with the law, Dr. Shannon. As it says here, he'd gone to Gravsel's usual hang out to confront him about assaulting your daughter Madison Shannon, fourteen at the time, and Gravsel struck out. Your husband defended himself, causing the deceased and your husband to exchange several injuries. One of those injuries resulted in Gravsel's death later that night from—"

"I know the rest." Elisabeth interrupts, Conalee nods. "What does my husband have to do with why you've invited me here?"

"James Shannon has seventeen more years on his sentence." Conalee says, looking at his own Plex.

"Get to the point please, Mr. Conalee, my children are waiting for me at home." Elisabeth says flatly.

"You're children can wait, Dr. Shannon." Helms says.

"We are offering to cut your husband's sentence short if you agree to join the salvage team preparing to enter Terra Nova." The room is silent for a long moment.

"We can assure you that the people on this team are some of the best train in their divisions you would be in little to no danger." General Anderson informs. Elisabeth looks incredulous.

"I was under the impression that the portal to Terra Nova is only one way." She says, raising a brow.

"It is; however there is an individual in Terra Nova who will be able to fix that, should you go and he be recovered." Dr. Remington says, shying back a bit when her sharp gaze falls on him.

"If this individual is alive to _fix_ it." Elisabeth is unimpressed and dissuaded.

"We have reason to believe he is alive." General Anderson says, with no doubt in his voice.

"This team will go through first, set up a perimeter and a camp, you and your family will be perfectly safe." Mr. Helms insists.

"My family? You aren't seriously telling me that I'd be bringing my children with me into an environment you only just told me may house a _hostile threat."_ She's been completely dissuaded, and shakes her head in distaste.

"It may very well be that the threat is gone, and the remaining colonists simply have no way to communicate with Hope Plaza." Anderson presses. Elisabeth doesn't buy it.

"With that fact in place," Helms continues, Elisabeth bites the inside of her cheek as not to correct the man on his mistake; there are no facts, "you will be able to remain in Terra Nova, if this person of significance is found or not."

"This is supposed to persuade me, how?" She fully intends to leave any moment, but Helms seems to have already guessed this reaction.

"The air quality, Dr. Shannon, causes so many young people to be hospitalized these days." This has Elisabeth's attention. "I understand Madison was on a ventilator for three weeks some five months ago." Helms keeps going. "Terra Nova is 85 million years in the past, Dr. Shannon, the air quality far exceeds any filter currently in existence." She nods once, regrets that this man has played her, but can't shake away the image of her big girl unable to breathe on her own.

"How long do I have to decide?" She asks. Helms smiles, but the look is false.

"You have two weeks, Dr. Shannon. But by the look on your face you've already decided." She's one away from glaring as she rises from her seat.

"I'll have my answer by then, Mr. Helms." She answers stiffly. He nods.

"You will be put in touch with your husband sometime early this week." On cue the door opens to reveal the same uniformed man from before, she walks past him; she remembers the way back to the lobby. The man falls into step with her and they walk away from the office in silence. When they reach the lobby the man nods at her. She puts on her rebreather and starts toward the exit.

"Thank you for your time Dr. Shannon." He says, she doesn't reply.


	2. Pilot: Part 2

Maddy presses her rebreather closer over her mouth and adjusts her hood against the cold wind. She's only a few blocks away from home but the smog's already gone from a murky orange to poisonous green grey. The hologram ads jumping out at her make awkward shadows on the wet concrete, her footsteps are the only thing she hears besides the hum of the city as she enters the underground parking lot. She hasn't taken the elevator since she'd been hospitalized, it's a shred of extra exercise and she figures she doesn't need to take a box up to the one she already lives in. The door hisses open and she gets in quickly. Josh is sitting at the tiny kitchen table with his hands in his hair.

"What's wrong?" Maddy asks, pulling off her rebreather, her hood falls back to reveal her head of long dark hair. She tosses her rebreather and jacket into her cubby and toes off her shoes.

"Mom's invitation yesterday." Josh nods over to the small living section to where their mother and little sister are sitting.

"What was it about, mom?" Maddy says sitting across from Josh. Elisabeth sighs.

"The holos with the trees on 'em." Zoe pipes up, Elisabeth smiles, Maddy frowns.

"The Terra Nova Project?" Maddy asks dubiously. "The seventh pilgrimage was cancelled three year years ago." Elisabeth nods.

"I've—or rather _we_, have been invited to join in on a salvage team into Terra Nova." Elisabeth says slowly, interrupting her daughter before she can say anything. "My name was brought up in an intercepted communication between the Lieutenant—"

"Lieutenant Washington, you treated her!" Maddy jumps in. Josh rolls his eyes.

"You're like a puppy lighting up for its favourite ball." He says, disbelievingly. Maddy makes a face at him.

"As I was saying; my name was brought up in the communication and I'm needed to create a vaccine of some sort." She looks a bit guilty when she pauses.

"But the portal only goes one way!" Maddy presses, looking to Josh who looks simply sullen.

"I've been made well aware of that. I was also assured that there is someone there who can make it go both ways, if we can recover them." Elisabeth persists. Maddy looks at her mother as if she's lost her mind.

"And you're willing to risk that, with us?" Maddy motions at Zoe who is sitting quietly next to Elisabeth.

"Yes! I am Madison. You've done the research; you know this, the _air _quality!" Elisabeth exclaims. Maddy's face falls, she covers her face with her hands.

"The _air _quality." She says, voice muffled. _Of course._ She looks back up at her mother.

"I didn't realize, I'm s—"

"It's alright Maddy," Elisabeth interrupts, "there are a lot of risks, but the team we're going through with is highly skilled." Maddy nods.

"How long?" She asks, glancing at Josh again and taking his expression as a bad sign.

"Two weeks." Elisabeth says. Maddy nods. "You'll be able to study. There's an EYE computer in the colony that you can get your work from." Elisabeth adds, Maddy brightens considerably.

"Mom, I can't leave!" Josh bursts out, bringing his hands down on the table. Elisabeth levels him with a pointed expression.

"Josh, we don't have much of a choice." She says.

"But what about Kara!" He insists, and Maddy's face falls again. _Kara. _She's been a good friend to Maddy for as long as she and Josh have been together. Elisabeth looks like she's about to retort but stops herself before she speaks.

"I'm going to be contacted at the end of the week regarding some of the conditions. I can see if Kara can come through as well. She's been wonderful in her astronomy classes and might be of use." A smalls smile quirks on Josh's lips.

"What about Daddy?" Zoe asks, looking up at Elisabeth. Both Josh and Maddy's jaws drop; they'd forgotten that.

"That was one of the conditions, Daddy is coming with us." She smiles, none of the kids notice how it doesn't reach her eyes.

"He's being released!" Maddy jumps out of her chair in her excitement. Josh grins.

"So we get to see Daddy?" Zoe asks, her face lighting up. Elisabeth nods and Zoe hugs her.

_**r-e-f-o-r-m-e-d**_

The office room is stuffy from lack of a better central filtration system. Maddy has her own portable filter pressed against her face. While Josh has Zoe on his lap and it helping her connect the dots on a paper. Elisabeth has been in an even more stuffy office for over an hour now going over the final agreements for the excursion. Maddy pillows her head on her arm and leans down, her eyes closing and opening slowly.

"Late night, Mads?" Josh asks, and she opens her eyes. Lifting the filter off her face she replies, "I was up reading about the Terra Nova project." She replaces the mask.

"Haven't you been doing that all week?" He asks, steadying Zoe's hand as she guides the stylus to the next dot.

"The first two nights were digitalized copies of wilderness survival books—do you know that people were reluctant to digitalize those?—anyway, the third and fourth were about dinosaurs, and the last three have been on the Terra Nova project; new, publications, any public records I could find." She waves her hand dismissively.

"How many books?" He asks, with a chuckle in his voice.

"Twelve." She says. At that the door to the office room opens and Elisabeth walks in with seven other people; three women, four men.

"We wanted to introduce ourselves before going through the portal next week." One of the women speaks up. Elisabeth crosses over to Maddy and sits next to her.

"I'm Clara Benton, I'm your eyes; a sharpshooter." She nods at each of the Shannon kids. She points to three of the men, "Dan Partridge, Eric Matthers, Jake Uriol, they're going to be the muscle on the ground." They all nod their greetings. A dark skinned woman steps forward.

"Lee Samson, survival, I've got tours in Somalia and Alaska." She says, Maddy looks impressed. The last man speaks up.

"Henry Claymore, explosives." He smiles at each of the Shannon's. Finally the last woman steps forward.

"Renee Holland, terrain; snow, jungle, desert; you name it." She nods.

"The seven of us are going to go through first to set up a perimeter and base camp. We'll radio Hope Plaza once we're finished and your party will come through. Any questions?" Benton looks from face to face.

"Will there be dinosaurs?" Zoe asks, face lighting up. Uriol grins at her question.

"That'd be a yes, little lady. You ever read about the long necked ones?" He asks and Zoe nods.

"I've read about the Tie-ran-asor-us Rexes too." She says.

"We might not see those, but we might see Carnotaurus'. That's almost the same." He says and Zoe nods.

"Aright, that s'all I wanted to know." She says with a smile and leans back into Josh.

"Dr. Shannon has been given all the information necessary for packing and preparation, there is a secure facility with top class filtration where you can do any of the mentioned training in the files provided. They aren't necessary." Clara turns on her heels with a final nod and the other soldiers follow her out. Elisabeth takes three little chains out of her pocket and tosses one to each of her kids. Josh's has two chips inside protective cases on his chain. He puts Zoe's around her neck.

"The files are on the chips, put them on your Plex and read them when we get home." She says, putting a hand on Maddy's back. She looks to Josh who's been silent since she came back in.

"Josh," she says, he looks up at her, "call Kara." He bows his head in relief, and he hugs Zoe around the middle. Zoe tries to wiggle around in Josh's lap.

"Kara's comin' too?" She asks, smiling, Kara used to help her with homework sometimes. Josh nods.

"Yeah, Zo', Kara's coming too."


	3. Pilot: Part 3

**AN: This muse hasn't left me! I'll keep coming back to this, no worries. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Reviews are ALWAYS welcomed. :)**

* * *

Hope Plaza is an eerie echo-y structure. The last time Josh watched a pilgrimage broadcast on the wire it had been loud like the footage from old concerts. Exciting, with the expectation of something good to come; this isn't anything like that. His stomach is flip-flopping nervously with each passing minute. The group of soldiers have been gone seven hours with radio ins on the hour every hour. Kara is asleep, leaning on his shoulder; it's only her even breathing that's keeping him sane right now. His lips form into a fine line when he hears his mother's angry voice carrying from the office above.

"_They're idiots." _He thinks, not for the first time. He, Kara, Zoe, and Elisabeth are all fine without their rebreathers (five hours at the most); but not Maddy. His hand tightens into a fist at the thought of his sister's panicked expression when he saw her without her rebreather. Some pale skinny man in a lab coat had told her in a nasally voice that she wouldn't need her rebreather much longer, because they're due to pass through the portal in 'less than an hour'. He'd made a point to take her mask just to emphasize his point. Maddy can be a spit fire but she's just as nervous too and didn't say anything. It was only when Zoe ran over to him and Kara did he notice that Maddy had tears streaming down her cheeks and a blue tinge to her parted lips.

"Kara, get her inhaler!" He'd exclaimed jumping up from the bench and rushing over to Maddy. He helped her lay down, taking her hand in a vice grip. "Mom!" Elisabeth's upper torso appeared, leaning over from the platform above, expression changing from professional to outright worry in the blink of an eye. Kara placed the mask over Maddy's mouth pressing on the aerosol steroids to open her air passages. "You're alright Mads," she'd soothed, until Elisabeth came down and stayed with her daughter until she was breathing alright. Then came the fire.

The seventeen year-old is now sitting up with Zoe next to her, none the worse for wear. The lab coat is still getting an honest earful, and has been for the last _fifty five minutes. _The soldiers had misinterpreted the time it would take to set up the camp. They have fifteen minutes before they're due to go through the portal. Fourteen. And Jim Shannon isn't here yet.

"—_I _know you're not an alien, Maddy," Zoe says, "I'm saying tha' someone _else_ could think you are, because yo-wer lips were blue!" Maddy's smiling under the oxygen mask at her sister's animated ramblings on. She takes a deep breath and moves the mask off of her face a moment.

"But what would aliens want with us, Zo' we've already taken all the good stuff from Earth." She replaces the mask and listens intently to the five-and-three-quarters year old's defense that aliens either want to eat us or that the smog will fuel their ships, "—so they'll clean the sky and make it sparkle again." A resounding low pitched beep has Kara stirring next to Josh and the Shannon kids all looking toward the huge tube like elevator at the side of the structure. The thing can hold up to thirty people at once, but from what they can see only four people are in it.

Elisabeth emerges from the office, anger falling away into an expression of relief. "Thank god." She whispers. Kara looks at Josh then back at the rising glass elevator. "That must be your dad." She says, Josh nods, looking over at Maddy and Zoe who are silently looking on, the younger of the two attempting not to fidget. The elevator stops at their platform and the four individuals start walking toward the group. Elisabeth covers her mouth with her hand, involuntary tears welling in her eyes. She blinks them back, taking a deep breath. Josh's grin mirrors Zoe's when they their father approaching.

"Dad!" Maddy's excited exclamation is muffled by the mask but is heard none the less. The man in the middle of the other three grins, quickening his pace. Maddy stands and Zoe does too, only to make sure her older sister doesn't fall over. She picks up the portable filter box and hands it to Maddy. The older girl slides the strap onto her shoulder, grin stretching over her face beneath the clear mask.

"Jim." Elisabeth says, and he hugs her tightly. Josh stands, keeping a hand on Kara's shoulder. "It's so good to see you." Jim says into his wife's hair, letting go and crossing deliberately over to Maddy to envelope her in another hug. She tries to blink back tears, but they're falling before she can stop them. "Hi, Dad." She gets out, muffled again by the mask over her mouth. He leans back to get a good look at her, running a hand over her hair. "God, I've missed so much." He says taking her in as much as possible. "How's my big girl?" She laughs and more tears slide down her cheeks. "I've been worse." She admits, and he nods. "You're so brave."

He scoops up Zoe and takes Josh into a one armed hug at the same time, muttering apologies, and awed comments about how much they've grown. He sets Zoe down as Elisabeth comes over and takes his hand, her turns his head into the crook of his free elbow and coughs. Elisabeth frowns but doesn't say anything else. Maddy sits downs again and Zoe hops up onto the bench next to her kicking her feet excitedly. "You're just on time," Elisabeth smiles, "we should be going through in about ten minutes." Jim nods, looking back at the men who 'escorted' him to Hope Plaza. Elisabeth levels a placating smile at the men.

"Thank you for escorting my husband here. We appreciate it greatly." Her accent rings out cheerily, but not without a touch of something else behind the friendly appearance. Jim inwardly smirks, not even two years away from her can make him forget her 'time for you to leave' tone. The men nod and retreat the way they came, one of the Hope Plaza officials catches up with them, shaking their hands and hands them a rather thick envelope. Kara comes to stand next to Josh, fitting her hand into his and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's good to see you, Mr. Shannon." She smiles, and Jim smiles back extending his hand to her. "You too, Kara." She shakes his hand.

Dr. Remington and General Anderson step off the stairs, the latter of the two sticking out his hand to shake Jim Shannon's. Jim takes it, and nods professionally at the soldier. "Thank you for everything you've done, General." He says; Anderson shakes his head. "I didn't pull the strings to get you here. But I'll pass on the thanks." He motions to the scrawny man in the lab coat. A majority of these scientists are rather rodent looking. "I trust you read the file you were sent, Mr. Shannon." He asks; Jim nods. "Good, good, we're just about due for a radio in from the team we sent through first, and I would like to remind you all," he raises his voice, making him sound rather shrill. The kids all look over at him. "When you are on the other side of the portal, that is eighty million years in the past, it will be a shock to your system, the air is extremely rich and I urge you to take quick even breaths. The soldiers already over there have CO2 infusers in case you need assistance."

And so they wait. The numbers on the digital clock counting up to the hour, second by stretched second. They get their call exactly on the hour.

"_This is Samson checking in, we are good to go." _The survival expert, for all intents and purposes, sounds content her tone conveys no hint of stress whatsoever. General Anderson replies promptly. "Good to hear, Samson. Portal initialization in three, two, one." There's a sudden tearing sound and a blue billowing window opens up in the terminal. "Wow." Maddy breathes, taking Zoe's hand. Dr. Remington steps forward fidgeting slightly. "Alright two at maximum," He ushers Josh and Kara forward, "you two can go first." He says, placing his hand on Josh's shoulder. He looks back at his mom for assurance.

"I'm right behind you, you'll be fine." She assures, shoving any doubt she has to the back of her mind. Josh takes a steadying breath and holds Kara's hand tightly. "Let's go." He says, and she grins, nodding at him. "Okay." They step forward, striding into the blue window. There's another flash and the couple is gone. Without missing a beat the scientists ushers Elisabeth forward, reluctantly letting go of Jim's hand; he motions for Zoe to come over. "Mom and daughter." He mutters, and then waves them onward.

"See you on the other side, Liz." Jim says, and Elizabeth smiles, taking Zoe's hand in hers. "I'm holding you to it." She replies and resolutely walks through the portal. Maddy stands, an uneasy look in her eyes. She pulls off the mask moving over to Jim. He wraps an arm around her waist. "It'll be okay, honey." He promises. She doesn't say anything just hands her filter to Dr. Remington and stands a little straighter. The last flash signifies the last of the passages. The portal in shut off. Mr. Helms steps up behind General Anderson.

"The goal is clear." He says. Anderson clears his throat. "Yes, sir, my team knows not to stray from the objective." He doesn't get how the highest of the up highs have him in this mess. "Find Taylor. Keep him safe. Help him adjust the portal."

* * *

Panic response, that's the first thing she feels when she takes her first breath. The second thing she feels is dirt, against her face, and a bright light in her eyes. It's like an alarm in her head, screaming; but she can't scream. She can only gasp as the fresh air assaults her lungs. "_Maddy! Maddy!" _The voice is far away, worried.

_She can't breathe. _

Everything goes white.

* * *

**That pretty new Review button is there to be clicked on! Let me know what you think, it helps me improve.**


	4. Pilot: Part 4

**A/N: Thank you for reading this, it's a tiny audience but I really appreciate it. Hey look a faster update! Enjoy, and don't forget to review. :)**

* * *

She's turned to pacing again. It's the only thing she's got when she's not running the perimeter five times over as soon as the sun sets. She looks over at him on the bed pressed up against the cave wall and swallows hard. He's got a sheen of sweat coating his skin and his face is flushed, the virus makes him run hotter, metabolize everything quicker. They are so goddamn lucky for the time released proteins in his IV, or he'd be so thin. He's already gaunt, nothing at all like the man she knows. Healthy, all smiles—a sad one pulls at her lips, and she swallows hard again, her throat is dry. Everything is dry.

She's got a cover of sweat on her skin too, but that's what everyone's got in these caves. Her hair hangs in waves over her shoulders, and strands of it cling to the back of her neck and forehead. She needs to bathe and clenches her teeth at the thought. _You've gone weeks without bathing before._ She has to remind herself, but this isn't the same as Somalia, or any Hell hole she's been in. No being clean makes her feel more in control, because of the virus.

"Alicia." She turns leveling a concerned look at the young man in the doorway. A small, almost smirk graces her lips; he's the only one allowed to call her that, he's been gone for the better part of four hours. "Mark." He smiles and steps into the reasonably sized room and deposits a large cylindrical container in the corner. He points at it. "Drink some water." He says, motioning at the bottle sitting on one of the boxes in the opposite corner. He's also the only one who gets away with 'ordering' her. Alicia sighs, running a hand through her hair, before turning and picking it up. She sits next to the container and turns the water spout. The typically clear liquid comes out stained slightly blue; it's been purified and vitamins have been added.

Mark leans against the rust coloured cave wall and looks over at the sleeping man on the bed. "Any improvement?" He asks as Alicia downs the water in one go. She exhales with a satisfactory sigh; her mouth isn't dry any more. "No change since your team went out." She takes a deep breath. Malcolm doesn't know whether this is good news or bad. It's a plateau; what they're giving him isn't helping nor making anything worse. It's got her heart in her throat to be honest. "His white blood cell count?" Mark asks, looking at his boots; Alicia looks up at him a grin stretching across her features. "Have you been hanging around with the docs?" She teases with a slight laugh. He matches her brightened expression. "Actually yeah." He cocks a brow at her in silent reiteration of his question.

"Plateau-ed two nights ago, hasn't decreased at all since." She fills her bottle again and takes small sips. "Good." Mark says gruffly. There's a groan from the bed, and Alicia's on her feet instantly, crossing over and sitting at the edge of the bed. His eyes open slowly—her heart thumps painfully; she doesn't want to admit to her fear that she'll never see them again—and he searches for a second before his gaze lands on her. A slow smile comes over him when he sees her. "Hey." He manages hoarsely. She doesn't cry, no, but if anyone asked the man in the bed, he'd swear her eyes shone wetly just a bit (it could be the lighting though.). He likes to be reminded that she's got a whole array of beautiful emotions underneath the strong, stoic lieutenant he knows.

"Good to see you." She says, hand moving involuntarily to feel his cheek. She purses her lips, he's still too hot. "Likewise." He takes a deep breath, groaning in discomfort. She tightens her jaw trying to mask her concern. "I'm fine." He says hoarsely. She just nods, smiling, but the worry is still in her eyes. "Sure you are." He's about the say something back when the sound of booted footfalls interrupts him.

"Lieutenant Washington." The soldier sucks in a breath, then salutes. Alicia rises. "At ease, Corporal. What is it?" She stands a little straighter, going to put her hands behind her back in her customary stance, but the bedridden man takes her hand. "The scouting party spotted something near the portal." She says a bit breathlessly. Alicia's expression turns serious. "Go on." She says, and the Corporal nods. "Seven soldiers, ma'am. Setting up a secure camp. Our feeds picked up some of their conversation." She acknowledges Mark when he stops leaning on the wall. "I give them no more than a few hours before they're like the rest of them." Alicia nods, freeing her hand begrudgingly, and reaching for her gear.

"I need to take a look at the feed." She says, turning back the two soldiers. "Reynolds, stay here until Malcolm gets back." She shrugs into her armoured jacket and stoops to pick up her bottle. She smiles when a hand brushes a strand of her hair off her face. "You coming back later?" He asks, Alicia nods. "Of course." She takes his hand and gives it a squeeze. They turns and strides over to the door. "Let's go Reilly."

**_r-e-f-o-r-m-e-d_**

Her breathing is wheezy and her eyes are searching when she drops onto her back in the dirt. Elisabeth's eyes widen with fear, she takes a deep breath from the CO2 infuser and scrambles over to her daughter at the same time that Samson skids to a halt and presses another infuser to Maddy's mouth. The girl presses it to her face desperately. "Maddy! Maddy!" Elisabeth leans over her daughter. Jim look on with worry in his eyes, he's been given an infuser too; Uriol is occupying Zoe, Josh and Kara are sharing one a little ways away watching uneasily.

Maddy's eyes search the sky blindly, pupils dilating and constricting with the onslaught of oxygen and sunlight. After another moment her eyes flutter shut and her head falls to one side. Elisabeth looks slightly panicked, but Samson reassures her with a hand on her shoulder. "She's just unconscious. It's perfectly normal, nearly all of us had our heads between our legs for almost twenty minutes when we got here. Given her medical history, this isn't unexpected." Elisabeth nods, she's a little dizzy herself, and she takes a deep breath. It feels good. "I know." She says, she did the reading.

"We'll put her on low oxygen for a bit okay? Gradually bring it up to environmental normal." Samson waves to Partridge and Matthers. "We're going to bring Maddy to her tent and set up an OIF." The boys bring over a stretcher and get her onto it Jim joins Elisabeth while the soldiers pick her up and bring her to a tent. Elisabeth squeezes her husband's hand, he looks at her. "Go stay with her. I'll stay out here with the kids." Jim nods, ducking into the tent. Elisabeth turns then to where Josh, Kara, and Zoe are. She gets distracted by the scenery though. She's only seen jungle images in her grandfather's collection of National Geographic magazines that went back generations. It's _so_ green, like a saturated photograph.

"Momma! It's like the colours in my book, the sky is blue!" Zoe runs over pointing at the sky, still squinting in the light they're all not used to. "It know, it's beautiful." Elisabeth says, smiling over at her son and his girlfriend. Kara's looking up at the sky too, a hand shading her eyes. "You can see the moon and the sun at the same time." She wonders pointing at the particularly large white circle hiding against the sky. Zoe says something so fast that Elisabeth barely catches it. "There's trees they're green jus' like the holo-ads back home and clouds cloud white clouds momma have you seen white before?" Elisabeth just laughs at her daughter's enthusiasm, and looks up in time to see Josh press a kiss to Kara's cheek.

* * *

**There you have it. Who's on the bed? What will happen in the next few hours? Will Reilly's prediction come true? Review and lemme know what you think.**


End file.
